Browsing by Author "Luukkonen, Heidi"

This thesis is about child’s involvement in drama play. It analyzes how child’s involvement process construes during drama play session. The topic of this research is especially important for early childhood education, since involvement in action is a precondition for profound learning. In addition, thesis considers what kind of elements concerning drama play situation, and teacher’s action can connive or inhibit involvement process during drama play session. My presumption is that drama play is meaningful activity for the child, and hence well-organized drama play session might create a situation, which may help the child to get involved in action with long term. Starting point is an idea that child’s involvement in action is dependent on the manner in which an adult performs in play situation, in various ways. Hence, the adult may be able to enrich and connive child’s play, and involvement. Theoretical framework describes drama in early childhood education, features of pedagogical drama play, and the importance of child’s involvement for learning. In addition, I describe the role of an adult in child’s play, and analyze adult’s involvement process during drama play. The data collection process can be termed participatory observation. Two girls aged four and five and one four-year-old boy from a school in Uganda participated in the study. The data collection performed during drama play situation, which I planned and organized. The drama play session videotaped. The Leuven Involvement assessment scale for children developed by Ferre Lavers (1997) supported the analysis. Adult Engagement Scale (AES), which scrutinizes adults, applied to describe my own engagement in drama play situation. (see. f. e. Tahkokallio 2014; Pascal et al. 1995). According to the results, drama play created involvement in action with a child. A large amount of variation in involvement process was discernible between the children as com-pared to one another. Especially the variation came out in how quickly the involvement initiat-ed. Every child’s involvement during drama play session developed differently as a process in which it weakened and enforced again. Teacher’s involvement in action during the session had a major significance for child’s involvement process. The teacher succeeded to engage, and with sensitivity, to activate children and enhance their involvement. The child’s involve-ment was disturbed as other children came to follow the drama play session.